Seattle’s Baltic Room showcases Electro-Voice Tour X, ZX loudspeakers

April 14th, 2009

The Baltic Room, one of Seattle’s finest DJ and live music venues, recently worked with AV specialists TR Professional (Lynnwood, Wash.) to take their house sound system to the next level. Built around the new Tour X loudspeakers from Electro-Voice, TR Professional’s system design and installation has exceeded all expectations, raising the bar for small-club sound in the city.

Located in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, The Baltic Room offers its patrons the intimacy and elegance of a jazz lounge with the energy and sound of a DJ club. Joel Bockovich of TR Professional explains how their EV solution balances the best of both worlds:

“The Baltic Room isn’t a huge space, but it’s got a really cool vibe. It’s not a typical club: it has a stylish, upscale atmosphere, complete with wood paneling and soft lighting - it’s very classy. That’s why the owners were looking for something low-profile that wouldn’t monopolize the dance floor or take up too much room when flown above their small stage.“

To achieve the desired sound and aesthetic for the space, TR Professional’s owner Ric Webb specified EV Tour X loudspeakers to provide sound reinforcement to the dance floor, and ZX1i loudspeakers to provide sound to four zones of the club’s interior.

“Tour X’s combination of superb audio, compact footprint, and budget-friendly price-point made it the perfect box for the Baltic Room,“ adds Bockovich. “These speakers really stretch the dollar, and their size doesn’t interfere with the look and feel of the club. The ZX1is are beautiful too - another example of a small, aesthetically pleasing enclosure packed full of high performance components. They’re also very quick and easy to install - the brackets are great. They tuck up into the corner and discretely deliver clear sound and precise coverage. We love working with them.“

The main dance floor system at the Baltic Room comprises two TX1181 subs and two TX1152 15-inch top boxes. An SxA250 powered 15“ two-way loudspeaker serves as a DJ monitor. CP4000S amplifiers provide power to the subs. The two top boxes are powered by two CP3000S amps; two new Q66 amplifiers power the ZX1is. A DC-One processor provides system control and limiting. “At some point the club is going to add one or two additional subs to the system,“ says Bockovich. “So we overspec’d the amps to accommodate future growth - all they have to do is just plug in the new boxes.“

“The ZX1i/TX combination provides seamless distributed audio, not only for the louder DJ music but also for BGM or TV sound,“ Bockovich continues. “Though the system is full and clear at these lower volumes, it has the headroom to deliver serious SPLs. This configuration also helps the Baltic Room conform to Seattle’s strict noise ordinance. If we tried to fill the entire space with sound from a single point source - just the TX boxes - then the sound from that point would bleed through to surrounding buildings and violate those noise ordinances. So by adding the ZX1is to the mix, piping the audio into each zone instead of blasting sound from one point, we not only have the flexibility of multi-zone audio, we’re able to bring down the volume of the main Tour X system while maintaining the perception of a loud system.“

“The Baltic Room is very happy with their new sound and the bang they got for their buck,“ adds Bockovich. “The intelligibility and full-bandwidth sound of the system, especially out of the tops, is where they’re hearing the most improvement - it blows away the equipment they used to have in there. The sound is crisp and clear; it can be driven all the way up without creating that listening fatigue that you get from a harsher horn.“

The installation at the Baltic Room proved so successful that TR Professional now uses the system to showcase Tour X to customers. “The owners gave us the keys so we could demonstrate the system after hours,“ Bockovich explains. “Our clients - a local church - purchased their system based solely on the sound samples we played through the top boxes at the Baltic Room. Tour X was exactly what they needed - it simply sounds great as-is, with minimal tweaking necessary, if any. That makes it an exceptionally versatile solution for a wide range of spaces.“